bet365 in China

[LD]

Interesting story in the Guardian today about bet365's presence in the Chinese market.

According to the Guardian, half of bet365's 2013 revenue of £1.3bn came from countries where they don't have a license, a large portion of that half coming out of Asia... "principally China"

It doesn't surprise me a large portion of their revenue comes from unlicensed markets...proportionally very few countries in the world have specific online gambling laws/regulations/license regimes. Most other operators would be in a similar boat, accepting bets from a number of 'grey' markets. What is surprising (if accurate) is how aggressively bet365 market in the (very dark) grey market of China where online gambling is illegal.

The Guardian makes the following claims..

• bet365 frequently change website URLs in China to thwart authority's efforts to block/close the sites. According to former employee...
  

  There’s nothing the Chinese government can do about it, other than block the sites, which they do. A lot Chinese (-facing) bookmakers change their domain names on a regular basis.

• they have a large call centre in Stoke staffed by Chinese speaking staff. According to a current employee...
  

  China is the biggest department apart from the English [speaking] one

• they have complex payment systems in place allowing for the acceptance of Renminbi bets

bet365 issued a response to the Guardian, saying

There is no legislation that expressly prohibits the supply of remote gambling services into China by operators who are based outside China. Bet365 has no people, assets or infrastructure in China and does not engage any agents, aggregators or intermediaries, for any purpose, in China.

In the view of bet365, and its lawyers, Chinese law does not extend to the provision of services into China by gambling operators and service providers who themselves have no nexus with the territory. Any allegation of illegality on the part of bet365 is therefore untrue.

Full article here

[Unclefester]

Interesting article.


I'm reminded of something someone said to me...

nothing surprises me in this industry!

[LD]

Here's another interesting article, in case anyone feels sorry for the poor Chinese authorities having to put up with bet365 pushing the envelope a little... http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-d...ompany-2014-10

I like this quote...

They're kicking in the front door, knocking over the vase, while they're walking out with your television set. They're just prolific. Their strategy seems to be: We'll just be everywhere all the time. And there's no way they can stop us.

"There's no way they can stop us" ...A bit like the bet365 strategy!

When it comes to stepping over moral/ethical lines in cyberspace, China are the leading the charge!

I say good luck bet365!